


Dog Park

by brinshannara



Series: Warren Campaign Prompt Fics [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Prompt Fic, Warren Campaign
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:40:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22851121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brinshannara/pseuds/brinshannara
Summary: Maggie Sawyer and her dog, Bella, meet Alex Danvers and her dog, Gertrude.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Series: Warren Campaign Prompt Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642762
Comments: 32
Kudos: 165





	Dog Park

**Author's Note:**

> This one goes out to [XanDany on Twitter](https://twitter.com/XanDany), who donated to the Warren campaign and asked for a fic about a dog park. This was originally supposed to max out at 750 or so words, but, uh... oops?

Maggie and her German Shepherd, Bella, were regulars at the dog park. Every morning around 6:30 and every evening at about the same time, they were there, rain or shine. 

There were a lot of dogs and their owners who kept less strict schedules. In the year and a half since she'd gotten Bella, Maggie had gotten to know most anyone who set foot in the park more than once. It didn't mean she particularly liked everyone, but she would wave from across the park to someone she knew. She would smile and make small talk while Bella and another dog sniffed each other. The worst part of it was the men who would try to impress her with their dogs and ask her out. She rolled her eyes thinking about some of the past experiences and threw the ball halfway across the enclosed area for Bella to fetch.

She'd ended up briefly dating one of the dog owners, though; a cute blonde by the name of Megan. She'd been vaguely interesting but Bella had absolutely hated Megan and hadn't trusted her. Bella hadn't even gotten along with Princess Flufferoo, Megan's toy poodle. The relationship, such as it was, lasted all of six dates over the course of four weeks. Megan stopped coming to the dog run after that.

Bella ran back to Maggie, tail wagging, and dropped the ball. She looked up at Maggie expectantly. With a smile, she bent down and retrieved the slimy tennis ball and, once again, hurled it at least halfway to the far end of the space. Her dog took off like a rocket and Maggie sipped at her coffee. It was March, and it was cold enough for her to be wearing her jacket. The sun was just coming up, and she knew that, by noon, it would be warmer and sunny. It just wasn't warm and sunny now, much to her displeasure.

Bella came back and Maggie threw the ball once again. The park was mostly empty, just Dave and his dog, Biff, on the other side from her. It would start to fill up soon, with the regulars, around seven. That would be her cue to head back home with Bella and get ready for her day.

After yet another toss of the tennis ball, she caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar woman enter the park. She turned to her right to watch as she carefully closed the gate behind her before letting her dog off the leash. It was a beautiful dog; definitely part Golden Labrador. She watched as the woman brought out a rope toy and started playing tug of war with the dog before tossing it away. She smiled and returned her attention to Bella, who had returned the ball and was now nudging it at her.

"Yes, girl," she said. "I'm sorry. Here you go." She threw the ball again and Bella took off as fast as she could again. The new dog saw the ball go too and gave chase. "Uh, oh," muttered Maggie.

"GERTRUDE DANVERS YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" shouted the other woman, to no avail. Maggie chuckled to herself. What a name for a dog.

In the distance, the two dogs met up at the ball and abandoned the toy to sniff one another. Maggie rolled her eyes and started walking over to them as the other woman jogged up towards them.

Maggie came up shortly afterwards and saw the other woman trying to haul her dog away from Bella by the collar. Bella was excited and jumping around, giving a few barks and wagging her tail.

"Sorry about that," the other woman muttered, trying to separate the dogs.

"It's fine," she said, "Bella looks like she's having fun."

"Gertrude can be a little… enthusiastic."

Maggie grinned. "I can tell."

"Sorry," she said again, this time looking up at Maggie and flashing her a quick smile. Even in the early morning light, Maggie could tell that she was cute.

"It's fine," she said, smiling back. "Bella, come," she said, sternly. Bella looked up at her and obeyed. "Good girl. Sit." She did, but Maggie could tell she was dying to go play with her new friend.

"Wow, she's really well-trained," the other woman said. "You must have worked hard on it."

"A bit," she admitted. "Bella's a really obedient dog in general, though." She scratched behind Bella's ears lightly.

"Well, I'm gonna go, I think," she said, giving up and putting the leash back on Gertrude. "This one clearly can't be trusted in a new park yet. I thought that it would be easier with fewer dogs around."

She nodded. "Well, I think Bella enjoyed meeting Gertrude, for the record."

The other woman smiled. "Maybe we'll be back soon."

"Sure," Maggie said. "See ya 'round, Danvers," she said, with a smile, and turned to walk away.

"Hey!"

She turned back.

"How did you know my name?"

"I was pretty sure you didn't name your dog Gertrude Danvers, so I figured that had to be your last name." She smiled.

"Ooh, aren't you clever?" She held out a hand. "I'm Alex. Danvers, obviously."

"Maggie Sawyer," she said, first wiping her hand on her jeans. "Sorry, dog slobber. You get it." She took Alex's hand in hers and they shook gently, looking at one another. "Come back anytime," she said.

Alex nodded. "Yeah. I just might."

***

She didn't show up the next day, or the next. But, on Saturday evening, Maggie saw Gertrude and Alex walking up to the dog run. She smiled and gave a little wave when Alex spotted her. Bella saw where Maggie's attention was directed and bounded over to them. Maggie sighed and stood up from the bench and walked over.

"Bella, heel!" she called.

The dog froze and looked back at Maggie.

"I said heel!" she commanded.

The dog turned and walked back towards Maggie as slowly as possible. "Sorry," she said, "Bella can be a bit much."

"I get it," she smiled. "Maggie, right?"

She nodded. "Good to see you again, Alex." She looked at the Lab. "And you too, Gertrude. I think Bella likes you." She looked down and made sure Bella wasn't budging, despite clearly wanting to distract and overwhelm and play with Gertrude.

"I think Gert likes Bella too."

"Well, shall we let them get to know one another as we supervise? I just didn't want Bella to disturb you and Gertrude."

Alex thought about it. "Yeah, sure. I mean if we're both watching, it should be fine, right?"

"If they were growling, I'd be a lot more concerned."

She nodded. "All right, I'll take her off the leash."

"Okay, Bella, go!" she said. "Go see your friend," she pointed at Gertrude.

Bella bounced over to the Lab and together they sniffed each other and pranced around.

Alex folded her arms and shook her head, smiling. "Dogs, right?"

Maggie smiled back. "They're pretty much the best." She looked over at Alex. "Have you had Gertrude long?"

"Yeah, since she was a puppy. But my sister took care of her while I was at university and her loyalties have clearly switched," Alex said, with an overly exaggerated annoyed tone.

She chuckled. "Your sister's probably a soft touch for human food."

Alex turned to look at her. "She is! She's always feeding Gertrude stuff!"

"Well, there ya go. Can't really compete with that," she grinned.

She sighed. "I guess not." She tapped her bicep with her fingertips as she looked back at the dogs, who were now chasing one another around a set of large rocks. "What about you and Bella?"

"Yeah, she's about 20 months old and I've had her almost a year and a half."

"Oh, she's still a puppy!"

"Definitely has the energy of one, that's for sure," she laughed. "We're out here twice a day, every day. Gotta burn off all that energy so she doesn't eat all my shoes or destroy my couch."

"Wow, that's a serious commitment," Alex said. "My job is, uh… different, shall we say, so I can't always walk her. We have a big yard though, and my sister will help out."

Maggie noticed the use of the word _we_ and wondered if that referred to Alex and Gertrude or Alex and her sister or Alex… and someone else. "Oh, that's nice that Gertrude can play in the yard," she said. She paused and then decided to go for it. "Does your husband have a… different… job as well?"

"My…? My husband?" Alex turned and laughed. "Uh, no, I don't have a husband."

"Oh, my bad," she said, "I just kind of assumed."

"No, it's fine," Alex replied. "No husband or anything. I'm single."

Maggie filed that away, but still couldn't get a good read on Alex's orientation. Well, maybe they could be friends, if nothing else.

***

Over the course of the next three months, Maggie saw Alex more and more frequently. She'd even met Alex's sister, Kara, who Bella absolutely adored. Still, their interactions never went beyond the dog park. There just wasn't all that much opportunity, not really. Maggie had come out to Alex in the first couple of weeks, mentioning something about an ex-girlfriend. By contrast, Alex hadn't said anything of the sort herself, so she assumed Alex was straight. As a result, she didn't want to be the one to suggest they do something _outside_ of the dog park together, lest Alex think she was hitting on her. So they didn't even exchange numbers.

Their dogs, however, had clearly become the best of friends. Bella would be visibly less excited about being at the park if Gertrude wasn't there, and Alex told her Gertrude seemed to miss Bella, too. Trying to separate them when either Alex or Maggie had to go home was almost impossible, too. They'd always be running around, playing together. They were thick as thieves.

One Friday evening, Maggie was just leaving the park as Alex was coming in.

"Hey," Alex smiled.

"Hey, I was just on my way home," she said, thinking about the report she had to file that evening. The paperwork was sitting, untouched, on her couch, just waiting for her to get back home.

"Ah, too bad." The dogs were already sniffing each other excitedly.

"Tomorrow," Maggie said.

"Yeah, sure," Alex replied, holding firmly to Gertrude's leash and pushing open the gate for Maggie.

"Why thank you," she said, pulling Bella along. "Heel!" she commanded when she felt resistance.

"We should do something, sometime," Alex said, as Maggie shut the gate.

"Hm?"

"I mean, you know, for them. They just love hanging out so much," she said, rapidly.

Maggie smiled. "I'd like that. I know Bella would."

"Cool. So, uh, see you tomorrow and we can talk a bit?"

"Sure," she agreed. "Tomorrow."

Alex smiled. "Have a good night, Maggie.

"You too," she said.

She and Bella walked home, and she was smiling the entire time.

It was about an hour after they'd gotten home that Bella started barking.

"What is it, girl?" she asked from the couch, where she was reading through a file and occasionally adding things to the half-finished report on her laptop.

Bella kept barking insistently, wagging her tail, nosing at the front door.

Maggie frowned and got up. She didn't see anything through the peephole, but she heard some scratching. Holding Bella tightly by the collar, she unlocked and opened the door and was nearly mowed down by a golden blur.

Bella lunged after her, almost ripping Maggie's arm from its socket, and started chasing the other dog around the living room. Maggie quickly shut the front door and looked at the scene with her hands on her hips.

"Gertrude Danvers, where is your mother?" she demanded. Neither Bella, nor Gertrude seemed to hear or care.

"Bella, come!" she commanded, hoping Gertrude would follow, and hoping Alex had her contact info on Gertrude's collar.

Reluctantly, Bella came back and sat at Maggie's feet. Gertrude trotted over and wagged her tail and looked up at Maggie expectantly. "Hey there, Gertie," she said, sitting down on the floor and patting the dog gently with one hand. With her other hand, she pulled the dog's license and ID tag up to get a good look at them. No phone number, but there was an address.

"I bet your mom is really worried about you, Gertie," she chided. "Did you really manage to follow us all the way here?"

Gertrude barked and panted happily.

Maggie laughed and got up. "Stay," she said to Bella, and she fetched a spare bowl of water and let Gertrude drink her fill.

"Okay, let's get you back home." With that, she snapped Bella's leash on to Gertrude's collar and looked at the address again. It was about fifteen minutes away, beyond the park. "I'll be back soon, Bella, okay? Be a good girl." She stepped out into the hot summer evening with Gertrude, who emphatically did not want to leave. Still, knowing what she knew about Gertrude, she'd grabbed a couple of Bella's treats. With the treats as bribery, Maggie was able to coax Gertrude to walk away from the house with her. Soon they were on their way to the address on Gertie's tag.

It was a cute house, Maggie decided. Not too big, but not that small, either. In their conversations, Maggie had ascertained that the _we_ had, in fact, referred to Alex and her sister.

She rang the doorbell, and a moment later it swung open to reveal Alex.

"Oh my God, you found her!"

Maggie smiled as Alex ushered them in.

"You silly girl!" she said, crouching down and nuzzling the dog's face. "I was so scared!" She looked up at Maggie. "How on earth did you find her?"

Maggie shut the door behind her and then unclipped the leash. "She found me. Or, I guess, Bella."

"She didn't!" Alex straightened up as Gertrude trotted into the kitchen as though nothing had happened.

"Oh, but she did. Bella was barking like crazy and there she was, on the front porch. I opened the door, and she charged in. Bella followed, nearly taking my arm off," she grinned.

"Well, thank you, so much, for bringing her home. As I was trying to get the leash on her, someone came into the dog run and bumped into me. The gate was open, and she just took off. I chased after her, but she just ran so fast. I lost her really quickly." Alex shook her head.

"It happens," Maggie said. "I'm just glad she came to find Bella."

Alex looked up at her. "Me, too."

"I bet," she grinned.

She nodded. "And, uh, you know, not just because you brought her home."

"Oh?"

"I, uh, I've been, um…" She cleared her throat. "Been wanting to get to know you better."

Maggie smiled, knowing her dimples were showing. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." She was blushing.

"Well, I've been wanting to get to know you better too."

"Really?"

"Really." With that, she reached out and put one hand on Alex's shoulder and another on her neck and she leaned in closely. "Is this okay?" she whispered.

Alex's lips met hers in response.

Gertrude ran in from the kitchen and, tail wagging, tried to insert herself between the two women's legs, causing them to break away in laughter.

Maggie crouched down and nuzzled Gertrude. "Was this all a plan of yours to get your mom and I together?" she accused, chuckling.

Gertrude just licked her face, tail still wagging.


End file.
